Man: God’s Handiwork

Memory Text: “Know ye that the Lord he is God: it is he that hath made us, and not we ourselves” (Psalm 100:3).

Key Thought: God created humanity in His own image; sin defiled that image. God’s plan is to restore that image in us.

A nineteenth-century thinker, Arthur
Schopenhauer, while deep in thought about the essence of human
identity, accidently bumped into someone on the street. The person whom
he hit angrily demanded, “Who do you think you are?”

“Who am I?” Schopenhauer responded. “I wish I knew.”

Who am I? Who are we as a race? What are we doing here? How did we get here, and why?

These are ancient questions that humans still debate today.
Scripture, however, answers them all. That’s because there is an
inseparable link between the question of our identity and the doctrine
of creation. The answer to all those questions is found there; no other
biblical doctrine is as central to our understanding of humanity as is
creation, because it focuses on our origin, not merely our beginning. “Beginning” simply may refer to the fact of coming to be; “origin” attaches the idea of purpose to that fact of coming to be.

Therefore, radically opposed to evolution, which argues that there
is no purpose for our existence (we are here by chance alone), is the
Bible teaching on the creation of humanity. Rarely have there been two
teachings that present starker or more irreconcilable alternatives to
not only our existence but to our identity as human beings.

*Study this week’s lesson to prepare for Sabbath, October 20.

SUNDAY October 14

Creation and Human Origins

“So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them” (Gen. 1:27).
What does this text tell us about our origins that is so radically
different, even openly contradictory, from other views of human
beginnings, such as evolution?

It is impossible to miss the point that, as a conscious act of God, humanity’s creation had a purpose
behind it. Scripture has no room for any idea of chance. We were made
with a distinct purpose, and we were given a distinct nature and
essence right from the start.

Made “in the image of God” is about as concrete and distinct an
essence, a purpose, as could be imagined. This point is important
because some thinkers have argued that humans have to create their own
meaning, their own purpose, because we come without any meaning or
purpose inherent in us. If, for instance, evolution were true, one
could make the point that-because evolution teaches that we didn’t come
with any purposes (how could we, being accidents, and all?)- we have to
make up our own. In contrast, according to the Bible, we were
prepackaged, made in the image of God and created to bring glory to
Him.

Origins deal with history. Read Jude 14, Romans 5:12-21, and 1
Corinthians 15:20-22. How do these texts help us to understand the
historicity of Adam in Genesis 1, 2? Why is it important to understand
Adam as a historical person?

It’s amazing how many Bible scholars dismiss the historicity of
Adam: he’s a myth, they say, a symbol for humanity but not a real
person. One can hold those beliefs only through greatly distorting the
texts themselves, both in the Old and New Testaments.

Dwell on the fact that you were made in the
image of God. What should that tell you about your own inherent
self-worth, regardless of your faults, weaknesses, and shortcomings?

MONDAY October 15

The Image of God: Part 1

As we saw yesterday, Adam and, of course, Eve were literal people,
not symbols or myths but actual flesh and blood beings made “in the
image of God.” Obviously, being made in the image of God is something
good, something sacred, something that bestows inherent value on us.
What, however, does that really mean?

Read Genesis 1:26 carefully. What statement of intention seems to be
linked to the creation of man in God’s image? That is, God says that
humanity is to be made in His image, and then something immediately
follows as a result. What is that, and how does that help us in our
understanding of the concept of “the image of God”?

Genesis 1:26 is God’s statement of intention. God creates man in His
image and then commands him to do something. Being created in God’s image
appears to be necessary for a certain function; in this case, to have
“dominion” over the rest of what God had created. Therefore, “the image
of God” points to physical, intellectual, social, and spiritual
endowments needed in order for humanity to fulfill God’s purpose for
it. Whatever it meant to have “dominion over” the rest of the creation,
it certainly entailed respect, care, and good stewardship. Humanity
was, perhaps, to interact in a dynamic way with the “lower” created
order in a way that reflected how God interacted with humans
themselves. Being made in the image of God also means that humans were
to represent God in the world.

What a responsibility!

Read Mark 12:13-17. How do these verses help us to understand what it means to be made in God’s image?

Jesus’ practical message seems to be “ ‘Give your money to Caesar;
it has his image on it, and thus it belongs to him. But give yourselves
to God. You bear his image, and you belong to him.’ ”-Millard J.
Erickson, Christian Theology (Mich.: Baker Book House, 1998), p. 515.

How is this translated into practical terms?
Most likely, we also show that we bear God’s image in our love,
commitment, and loyalty to Him, as well as in the way in which we treat
others. Again, being made in the image of God, whatever else it
entails, is something manifested by our actions.

TUESDAY October 16

The Image of God: Part 2

Whatever else it means to be “made in the image of God,” it also shows that we were made to be in relationships. What are those relationships, and how should we, made as we are, act in them?

Read Genesis 2:19-20. What does that tell us right away about humanity’s relationship to the world?

Notice the autonomy, the freedom, given to Adam
here. He was to name the creatures that God had created. God didn’t do
the naming Himself, but He left that work to Adam. The text suggests
that God was going to accept whatever names Adam gave to the creatures.

Read Genesis 2:20-25. How do these verses reveal more about the relational aspects for these beings made in God’s image?

A lot of commentary has been written over the centuries about the
meaning of these verses. What is fascinating here, among other things,
is the closeness and the intimacy that was meant to exist between Adam
and Eve. Adam was created out of the ground and Eve out of Adam
(something that helps to distinguish her from every other earthly
created being). To be made in God’s image, then, certainly entails the
capacity for close and loving relationships (something that surely
reflects the relationship in the Godhead itself).

Now study Genesis 1:27 together with Genesis 3:20 and Acts 17:26. In
what way is the unity between the first pair of humans extended to
cover the unity of the entire human race? What does the unity of
humanity have to say about ethical issues such as justice, racism,
etcetera?

A Defiled Image

One of the many great obstacles for those who read evolution into
the biblical creation account is the Fall. In the Bible, the world and
humanity were perfect when created, a teaching that contradicts
evolution at the most basic level. Only through transgression did
suffering and death enter the world, a concept that’s contrary to the
evolutionary model, in which suffering and death are part of the very
means of creation itself.

Imagine what it would say about the character of God if He created
us in the manner that evolution teaches. God uses processes of
violence, selfishness, and dominance of the strong against the weak in
order to create a morally flawless and selfless being who “falls” into
a state of violence, selfishness, and dominance of the strong over the
weak-a state from which he has to be redeemed or else face final
punishment.

Think, too, of what evolution does to the plan of salvation. The Lord
incarnates into an evolved ape created through the vicious and
painfully murderous cycle of natural selection, all in order to abolish
death, “the last enemy” (1 Cor. 15:26)? But how can death be
the “enemy” when it was one of God’s chosen means for creating humans?
The Lord must have expended plenty of dead homo erectus, homo heidelbergensis, and homo neanderthalensis in order to finally get one creature into His own image (homo sapien).
So, Jesus comes to save humankind from the very process God used to
create humankind in the first place? The whole idea is foolish and
unbiblical.

Read Romans 5:12-19 and Colossians 3:10. How do these verses help us
to understand what sin has done to humanity? How does the great
controversy play into this whole picture? See 1 John 3:8.

Sin has touched all aspects of human life, and even the earth
itself. Ellen White talked about a “threefold” curse that has rested on
the world, the first resulting from Adam’s fall, the next from Cain’s
murder of Abel, and then the damage caused by the Flood. Theologians
also talk about “total depravity,” the idea that every aspect of
humanity, life, and personality has been damaged by sin. As we look
around at the world, and even at ourselves, it’s not hard to see, is
it?

Some believe that violence, suffering, and
death were all part of how God created humanity. Others believe that
violence, suffering, and death were all part of how Satan seeks to
destroy the humanity that God has created. Think about the differences
in the character of God that these two opposing views present.

THURSDAY October 18

Restoration

As deep and pervasive as the effects of sin have been on humanity,
our plight is not irreversible. The Bible speaks about the possibility
of renewal and restoration of the image of God in us, at least to some
degree.

The Bible clearly holds up the hope for us to be remade in God’s
image. The renewal of the image of God in humanity is accompanied by a
reduction of the effects that sin has had on us and our relationships.
None of this, however, is the result of man’s own achievement. The
Bible points to Christ as being the basis of hope for man’s renewal;
also, whatever changes are wrought in our lives, our hope of salvation
must rest always on what Christ has accomplished for us and the offer
of salvation based on His righteousness, not our own.

How is 2 Corinthians 5:17 related to the re-creation of man in God’s
image? Does being a new creature place a person beyond the reach of sin
and its effects on the human experience? What does your own experience
tell you about the answer?

Overall, the evidence from Scripture leads to the conclusion that
spiritual renewal comes at the cost of watchfulness in a spiritual
warfare. It is a warfare between the flesh and the spirit (Gal. 5:16-17).
Those who are being renewed in God’s image find this spiritual warfare
to be the reality of the human experience, and thus they embrace the
challenge in the strength of the Lord (Eph. 6:10-13). To choose
to be re-made in the image of God is to place oneself on the side of
God in the great controversy. Writing about those who have experienced
the renewing power of Christ, Ellen White noted, “But because this
experience is his, the Christian is not therefore to fold his hands,
content with that which has been accomplished for him. He who has
determined to enter the spiritual kingdom will find that all the powers
and passions of unregenerate nature, backed by the forces of the
kingdom of darkness, are arrayed against him. Each day he must renew
his consecration, each day do battle with evil. Old habits, hereditary
tendencies to wrong, will strive for the mastery, and against these he
is to be ever on guard, striving in Christ’s strength for victory.”-The Acts of the Apostles, pp. 476, 477.

FRIDAY October 19

Further Study

“In the beginning, man was created in the image of God. He was in
perfect harmony with the nature and the law of God; the principles of
righteousness were written upon his heart. But sin alienated him from
his Maker. He no longer reflected the divine image. His heart was at
war with the principles of God’s law. ‘The carnal mind is enmity
against God: for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed
can be.’ Romans 8:7. But ‘God so loved the world, that He gave His
only-begotten Son,’ that man might be reconciled to God. Through the
merits of Christ he can be restored to harmony with his Maker. His
heart must be renewed by divine grace; he must have a new life from
above. This change is the new birth, without which, says Jesus, ‘he
cannot see the kingdom of God.’”-Ellen G. White,The Great Controversy,
p. 467.

“The true object of education is to restore the image of God in
the soul. In the beginning God created man in His own likeness. He
endowed him with noble qualities. His mind was well balanced, and all
the powers of his being were harmonious. But the Fall and its effects
have perverted these gifts. Sin has marred and well-nigh obliterated
the image of God in man. It was to restore this that the plan of
salvation was devised, and a life of probation was granted to man.”-
Ellen G. White, Patriarchs and Prophets, p. 595.

Discussion Questions

In what way does the teaching of evolution fit into the
great controversy scenario? How has Satan used this doctrine to
undermine faith in the Bible?

Go through the New Testament and look up all the texts that
talk about Adam. How clear is it that the New Testament writers all
believed Adam to be a real person? Why is that understanding so
important to our understanding of who we are, how we got into the
situation we are in, and the hope that we have in Jesus?

Dwell more on the idea of being restored into God’s image.
In what way are we meant to understand that, especially as beings who
are subject to decay, death, sickness, and disease?

The two most foundational teachings in physics- quantum
theory and general relativity-directly contradict each other. What
should that tell us about how careful we need to be when accepting
something as “fact” merely because science says it is so?

Inside
Story ~ Euro-Africa Division: Bulgaria

The Bible Text

The foreign evangelist wasn't sure what to expect as the
evangelistic meetings among the Romani (Gypsy) people of Bulgaria
neared. The leaders couldn't locate a suitable hall to rent. But the
Romani Adventist community would let nothing stand in their way. They
built a platform on a dead-end street and put benches in the street.

On opening night, crowds packed the street around the homemade
platform. People filled the yards, balconies of homes, even nearby
rooftops to hear the message of salvation in Jesus. The crowd was
estimated at 5,000 people and didn't diminish during the five weeks of
meetings. Hundreds were baptized. One of these new members was Ivan.

Ivan was 21, and his decision for Christ was based more on emotion
than on an acceptance of a new lifestyle centered on Christ. Adventure
called, and Ivan drifted away from Christ.

When Ivan realized that his life was headed in the wrong direction,
he prayed. But nothing happened. He returned to church-at least on some
Sabbaths-but still nothing changed. One day he cried out to God, "Lord,
do You hear me? Are You still interested in me?"

That night he dreamed that the Lord spoke to him. "Find your
baptismal certificate in the drawer. Read the Bible text written
there."

The next morning Ivan found the baptismal certificate exactly where
he had seen it in his dream. He noticed a Bible text that the pastor
had written on it. Ivan grabbed his Bible and looked up the text,
Isaiah 43:2. "Fear not, for I have redeemed you; I have summoned you by
name; you are mine. When you pass through the waters, I will be with
you; and when you pass through the rivers, they will not sweep over
you. When you walk through the fire, you will not be burned; the flames
will not set you ablaze" (NIV).

Ivan reread the words again, amazed that God had known several years
earlier that he needed this very text at this time in his life. God
knew him; God cared. Ivan rededicated his life to God. He spends time
every day in prayer and Bible study to keep him from falling into the
lake of indifference again.

Ivan praises God for sending evangelists to teach the Romani people
about God. Recently a Thirteenth Sabbath Offering helped build a church
for a Romani community in northwestern Bulgaria. Thank you for sharing
God's love through your mission offerings.

Ivan Kirilov is part of a rapidly growing Romani Adventist community of more than 1,000 members in Kyustendil, Bulgaria.

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